National occupational standards for allied, paramedics

NEW DELHI: In a significant step towards ensuring that allied health and paramedical workers have the requisite training and skills, the national occupational standards were today unveiled here in 15 job categories by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

With the country facing shortage of doctors and nurses, better utilisation of the whole range of the skills of allied health professionals (AHPs) like technicians and wardboys, a neglected section so far, is the key to health-sector reforms in India and achieving universal healthcare, according to experts.

Terming it as "landmark achievement", the minister said it was a very important initiative by Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) from the point of view of both public health as well as employment generation.

Azad said the fifteen allied health areas requiring diverse skill sets which have been covered in the occupational standards had critical support-roles in the healthcare delivery system.

Having a uniform standard would definitely help in better provision of patient care services in different categories of health institutions located across the country, the Minister said addressing the Healthcare Skill Summit 2013.

The 15 categories include that of wardboys and ayahs, identified as general duty assistants, emergency medical technicians, radiology techniocians and operation theatre technicians.

"Although health is a state subject, the Government of India has stepped in to make healthcare services accessible, affordable and equitable, especially in the most inaccessible areas," Azad said.

The Minister particularly hailed the HSSC for responding to the needs of the community by choosing job roles such as Diabetes Educator and Frontline Health Workers on priority basis.

Azad advised the Council to develop short courses on healthcare and pay particular attention to soft skills training amongst healthcare support workers.

He also urged the Council to prioritise those allied health and paramedical jobs for which provision had been kept in the various national programmes so that adequate number of skilled manpower was quickly made available at the primary and secondary healthcare levels.

Azad said that since the launch of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) over eight years ago, substantial progress has been achieved in several areas.

More than Rs 96,000 crore have been released to the 35 state governments and UTs. Nearly 50,000 new health infrastructure has been created, around 70,000 beds have been increased in government health institutions , over 8.6 lakh ASHAs have been appointed in villages to facilitate interface between the communities and health system, he said. Azad also mentioned that the availability of MBBS seats has gone up from 33,567 to 51,979 now and 97 new medical colleges including six new AIIMS, have been established raising the number of Medical Colleges from 290 to 387.

To overcome the shortage of nurses and ANMs, he said that his Ministry has approved 269 nursing schools in the last two years, mostly in remote, inaccessible and under-served districts. With an estimated outlay of Rs. 2,030 crores, these institutions will give approximately additional 20,000 nurses annually.

The 'Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram' which was launched in February will screen children for disorders, Diseases, deficiencies and disabilities from birth up to 18 years. The programme aims to cover 27 crore children across the country, including 17 crore school going children.

Naresh Trehan, Chairman Healthcare Sector Skill Council and CMD Medanta- The Medicity, in his keynote speech said that the country urgently needed to address the issue of healthcare infrastructure, accessibility and most importantly-human capital.

He said that HSSC had the monumental task of training 4.8 million allied health and paramedic professionals in the next ten years who would provide valuable support to doctors and nurses.

Officials said the Council will introduce these uniform standards in courses and institutes affiliated to it.